James Van Patten new work

The world at my feet (seescapes)

For more than 40 years most of my work has dealt with landscape imagery and within that broad classification I have painted images of a lot of water and reflection and on wet surfaces. Before that I did a series of paintings, drawings and prints of clouds and skyscapes. As I have grown older, the young man James Van Patten who had his head in the clouds, became the middle-aged man who tried to notice constantly where he was each day, and what moments of perception might look like in a painting. During these 40 plus years I have lived on the east coast and traveled extensively and taught in New York City for three decades. The work I have produced has remained the result of looking toward the horizon at eye level.

I am now an old man eagerly approaching my 85th birthday. Like many old people, my body has become stooped and bent and seeing to the horizon hurts my neck. I am constantly looking down and trying to be careful of my footing. Looking down at my feet I often see the world as much less scenic and often gritty, but not ugly. For years I have noticed and rendered unexpected reflection and shadow in landscape. I have also been surprised by reflection and shadow in mudpuddles and standing water in gutters. Now because I am an old man with arthritis in my back and neck, I see more of the world newly reflected at my feet, beautiful, true street scenes, seescapes.

The paintings in this new part of this website are a collection of recent work of the older version of James Van Patten. Please address any questions to [email protected]. This new work is currently only available through the artist